The Fourth Sunday of Easter
John 10:1–10
Life in Christ Lutheran Church, Grand Marais, MN
April 26, 2026
Grace and peace to you from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.
We like to think we are strong, independent, capable.
But Jesus calls us sheep.
Sheep aren’t the smartest animals in the barnyard. They follow each other, even into danger. They return to the same trouble time after time.
Did you know sheep get stuck on their backs?
It’s true.
They get on their back with their legs in the air, can’t roll over, panic, and die if not helped. Their digestive gasses build up and suffocate them. No injuries. No predator attack. Just stuck.
When it happens, they are called cast sheep.
The danger is real and fatal.
Jesus calls us sheep.
It isn’t a compliment.
A cast sheep needs someone to come and turn it over or it dies.
The reality of being a shepherd is that sheep do dumb things.
Sheep don’t need advice. They do the same dumb things over and over again. They will follow each other and anyone into danger. They wander from the flock after green grass.
They must be constantly corrected and protected… from themselves.
And Jesus calls us sheep.
Jesus knows what He’s talking about.
It’s a diagnosis.
We are sheep.
We return to the same sins. We follow the wrong voices. We can’t see our sin. And according to the Bible, you can’t fix it, the problem is permanent.
You don’t just need guidance—you need to be rescued from yourself.
“A sheep is a poor, weak animal; it cannot help itself, it cannot find pasture, it cannot defend itself.”
— Martin Luther
You are a sheep.
You cannot be your own guide out of sin.
You cannot fix your sin.
You cannot save yourself.
And Jesus gets specific.
“A stranger they will not follow…”
But we follow the world.
When the culture speaks, we follow.
When fear speaks, we follow.
When pride speaks, we follow.
Sheep don’t evaluate the truth. They recognize a voice, even the wrong voice.
They follow the wrong shepherd.
You are a sheep. You are always following a voice—and left to yourself, it won’t be Christ’s.
Jesus is the Good Shepherd.
He calls His own sheep by name.
His call is very personal.
He uses your name.
He doesn’t use force.
He uses His voice.
He calls wandering sheep.
He calls sheep that repeatedly return to the same problems.
He calls sheep that don’t listen.
He calls frustrating sheep.
Jesus knows exactly what kind of sheep you are.
He calls you anyway.
People—and you and me—are stubborn sheep.
We are not easy to shepherd.
We are wandering sheep.
We are stuck sheep.
An ordinary shepherd—Jesus calls him the hired hand—might give up.
Jesus, the Good Shepherd, doesn’t give up.
He calls you by name.
He tells you the way.
“I am the door…”
It isn’t about improvement.
The door isn’t one option among many.
He is the only door.
If Jesus isn’t your Shepherd, you are not safe.
He uses another name for false, hired-hand shepherds.
He calls them thieves.
“The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy…”
The thief uses false teaching that sounds right.
The thief promotes self-trust.
The thief endorses false religion.
The thief takes.
The Good Shepherd gives.
Jesus doesn’t give up on you because He gives Himself for you.
“Christ is the Shepherd who gives His life for the sheep.”
— Martin Luther
How astonishing it is that a shepherd would do such a thing.
A shepherd protects the sheep. He works for the sheep. He may even risk himself.
But a shepherd will not die for the sheep.
They simply are not worth much.
Sheep can be replaced.
If a wolf comes, the hired hand runs. That only makes good sense. The shepherd’s life is worth much more than the sheep.
Jesus says something that makes no sense:
“I am the Good Shepherd. The Good Shepherd lays down His life for the sheep.”
That’s the absurdity of it, the backwardness of it.
It is not how the world actually works.
And even more so when you make it personal.
Remember what kind of sheep you are.
You wander off.
You repeat your sins.
You don’t learn from your mistakes.
You are frustrating.
You are not valuable.
You are not impressive.
And yet—Jesus dies for the sheep, you and me, anyway.
It is not hypothetical.
It is not poetic.
He actually dies.
See it right there on the cross.
He hangs in suffering and death, for you.
He does it anyway.
Again Luther brings it home:
“Christ is the Shepherd who gives His life for the sheep.”
Not because the sheep are worth it.
But because He, the Good Shepherd, chooses them.
He chooses you.
You don’t have value because of who you are; you have value in Christ because He died there, on the cross, for you.
The absurdity is not that sheep need a shepherd.
The absurdity is that the Shepherd dies for them.
The Shepherd, the Good Shepherd, died for you.
And the Good Shepherd, the One who died for you, is still speaking to you.
He calls you by name.
Not just once—continually.
Not in the past—right now.
It comes to you through His Word, through His voice.
In His voice, in His Word, that is where your life is.
It is not in your strength.
Not in your ability to follow.
You would naturally wander off to what you think are greener pastures.
Your life is in the voice of the Shepherd who will not stop calling you.
You are not kept because you hold onto Him.
You are kept because He does not let go of you.
Jesus, the Good Shepherd, has already died for you.
He lays down His life for you.
So listen.
Don’t listen to yourself.
Don’t trust in your sinful heart.
Don’t listen to what the world says.
Listen to Him.
The voice you hear, in Word and Sacraments, is the voice of the Shepherd.
He keeps the sheep.
His sheep.
Even a sheep like you. Amen.
The peace of God that passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.
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